cablehttp://blogs.forrester.com/taxonomy/term/815/all
enHurricane Sandy Scorecard: NSTAR 1, Verizon 0http://blogs.forrester.com/harley_manning/12-10-30-hurricane_sandy_scorecard_nstar_1_verizon_0
<p>Like millions of Americans who live along the Eastern seaboard, my family got hit by Hurricane Sandy.</p>
<p>Now don't get me wrong: Compared with residents of New York, New Jersey, and several other states, we had it easy in our little suburb north of Boston. Even so, there were a few exciting episodes, like this tree that fell on my neighbor's house.</p>
<p>And then there was this power line that came down on the sidewalk across the street from our home, about 4 feet from where I had been standing 20 minutes earlier (I had been talking to a firefighter).</p>
<p>What fascinated me, however, was what came after all the excitement: service recovery by our electrical utility and telecom provider.</p>
<p>Let's start with our local electric utility, NSTAR. As you can probably guess from the above, our power had to be cut. To restore it, NSTAR needed to coordinate with both our local fire department and our local public works department in order to get that giant tree off the power lines before it could repair them.</p>
<p>When I looked at the job ahead for the utility, I guessed that we would be without power for at least a day. But exactly 12 hours after NSTAR cut power so that the burning lines wouldn't pose a hazard, the tree was gone and our electricity was restored. In fact, NSTAR beat its own estimate by about 90 minutes.</p>
<p>Now let's turn to Verizon, which supplies our cable, Internet access, and home phone. In the run up to the storm, it was pretty good. The company sent us an email setting our expectations that in the event of a power failure our phone service would run on battery backup for up to 8 hours. What it didn't say was that during much of the time that the system ran on battery backup, it would make a loud, annoying noise to remind us that the battery was running down. Nor did the email tell us how to shut off the noise, which is something we had to go puzzle out by looking at the fairly complicated box installed in our basement.</p><a href="http://blogs.forrester.com/harley_manning/12-10-30-hurricane_sandy_scorecard_nstar_1_verizon_0" title="Read the rest of &#039;Hurricane Sandy Scorecard: NSTAR 1, Verizon 0&#039;." class="node_read_more">Read more</a><div class="categories"><h3>Categories:</h3><ul class="links"><li class="taxonomy_term_216 first"><a href="/category/customer_experience" rel="tag" alt="See other content with this tag." title="See other content with this tag.">Customer Experience</a></li>
<li class="taxonomy_term_137"><a href="/category/customer_service" rel="tag" alt="See other content with this tag." title="See other content with this tag.">Customer Service</a></li>
<li class="taxonomy_term_10762"><a href="/category/outside_in" rel="tag" alt="See other content with this tag." title="See other content with this tag.">Outside In</a></li>
<li class="taxonomy_term_815"><a href="/category/cable" rel="tag" alt="See other content with this tag." title="See other content with this tag.">cable</a></li>
<li class="taxonomy_term_10148"><a href="/category/telecoms" rel="tag" alt="See other content with this tag." title="See other content with this tag.">telecoms</a></li>
<li class="taxonomy_term_1118 last"><a href="/category/utilities" rel="tag" alt="See other content with this tag." title="See other content with this tag.">utilities</a></li>
</ul></div>http://blogs.forrester.com/harley_manning/12-10-30-hurricane_sandy_scorecard_nstar_1_verizon_0#commentsCustomer ExperienceCustomer ExperienceCustomer ServiceOutside IncabletelecomsutilitiesWed, 31 Oct 2012 00:22:24 +0000Harley Manning8449 at http://blogs.forrester.comWhy Hulu Will (and Should) Charge for Hulu Plushttp://blogs.forrester.com/james_mcquivey/10-04-23-why_hulu_will_and_should_charge_hulu_plus
<p>
The <a href="http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-ct-hulu-20100423,0,6836184.story" target="_blank">Hulu-will-charge-you-money rumor mill is churning once again</a> and the blogosphere has lit up with preemptively angered Hulu viewers vowing that they will never darken Hulu's digital door again. Some call it greed, others point to nefarious pressure from ailing broadcast and cable operations, while some decry the end of a freewheeling era. They are all wrong.</p>
<p class="rtecenter">
<strong>Hulu charging for content is a good thing. In fact, it's a necessary next step to get us where we need to be. Let me explain.</strong></p>
<p>
This comes at an awkward time, to say the least. The site's CEO, Jason Kilar, admitted just weeks ago that the free site is profitable, taking in more than $100 million last year and on a run-rate to more than double that this year. Blunting that momentum would be foolish. But letting it run absent the burden of helping to pay for the shows it profits from would also be irresponsible, and not in a Father-knows-best "charging for content builds character" kind of irresponsible, but in a more "not taking advantage of the opportunity to take Hulu to the next level in benefit of the consumer" kind of irresponsible.</p><a href="http://blogs.forrester.com/james_mcquivey/10-04-23-why_hulu_will_and_should_charge_hulu_plus" title="Read the rest of &#039;Why Hulu Will (and Should) Charge for Hulu Plus&#039;." class="node_read_more">Read more</a><div class="categories"><h3>Categories:</h3><ul class="links"><li class="taxonomy_term_817 first"><a href="/category/hbo" rel="tag" alt="See other content with this tag." title="See other content with this tag.">HBO</a></li>
<li class="taxonomy_term_813"><a href="/category/hulu" rel="tag" alt="See other content with this tag." title="See other content with this tag.">Hulu</a></li>
<li class="taxonomy_term_190"><a href="/category/paid_content" rel="tag" alt="See other content with this tag." title="See other content with this tag.">Paid Content</a></li>
<li class="taxonomy_term_677"><a href="/category/tv" rel="tag" alt="See other content with this tag." title="See other content with this tag.">TV</a></li>
<li class="taxonomy_term_816"><a href="/category/tv_everywhere" rel="tag" alt="See other content with this tag." title="See other content with this tag.">TV Everywhere</a></li>
<li class="taxonomy_term_815"><a href="/category/cable" rel="tag" alt="See other content with this tag." title="See other content with this tag.">cable</a></li>
<li class="taxonomy_term_814"><a href="/category/multiplatform_video" rel="tag" alt="See other content with this tag." title="See other content with this tag.">multiplatform video</a></li>
<li class="taxonomy_term_332 last"><a href="/category/online_video" rel="tag" alt="See other content with this tag." title="See other content with this tag.">online video</a></li>
</ul></div>http://blogs.forrester.com/james_mcquivey/10-04-23-why_hulu_will_and_should_charge_hulu_plus#commentsCMOHBOHuluPaid ContentTVTV Everywherecablemultiplatform videoonline videoFri, 23 Apr 2010 16:07:14 +0000James McQuivey4197 at http://blogs.forrester.com